Hello there. The names Mike. New to this forum also new to the whole photography scene. Well let me start off my first dslr I owned was a Nikon D3000. Good camera but I needed something with video capability and the revolving screen. So I go and buy a Canon EOS Rebel T3i 18-55mm kit. So far I'm very happy with the works on this dslr. I currently own Canon 18-55mm lens, Tamron 18-200mm Macro lens, and Tokina 80-400mm lens. Reason for going from a Nikon to Canon was my girlfriends god father is a Photographer who only works with Canon. So I can use his lenses when needed. So I go to his place one day so he could teach me a few tips with my canon. Long story short I leave his house with Photoshop, A aluminum tripod and the Tokina 80-400mm lens for free. I was told by him that I could only use the lens in MF mode. Which is cool. But when I put the lens in AF and hit the shot button half way at the same time spinning the focus ring I noticed that helps the AF to focus on my target. Any suggestions? Help appreciated. I would love to get this AF feature to be working 110%.

I know. He told me that the AF doesn't work. Like I mentioned before. When it is in AF mode and you help it a little bit it goes into focus. So I'm guessing the AF isn't 100% broken. If anything it seems like it jamed. That why I asked what to do. Can this be fixed as a DIY? Or is there some place to get lenses fixed?

Hello Mike, and welcome to the friendly Camera Labs forum!
To enjoy your stay here please have a look at the house-rules!
As to your Q.: I would suggest to try DIY on a lens and I fear that bringing it to a service shop might be quite costly. But at least you can ask and decide for yourself whether the repair would justify the cost.

Ooops, sorry Mike! I wrote "I would suggest to try DIY", but it should read "I would NOT suggest to try DIY" because my experience from just dismantling and re-assembling the lens mount from a tele-converter convinced me not to try my DIY-abilities on anything but the most rotten and cheapo lens. And your Tokina 80-400 certainly does not fall in this category.